The walls didn’t come tumbling down after all.
The barricades that have locked down a Harlem neighborhood for two weeks were set up again last night, despite an NYPD spokesman insisting earlier in the day that the streets would be open.
Homeowners and tenants along West 129th Street were still required to flash IDs to enter the frozen zone — on the same day The Post exposed the checkpoints.
The gates normally have come down during daylight hours. The NYPD provided no explanation for the about-face, but cops manning the barricades said there was never a plan not to use them.
“I feel like we’re in a concentration camp. Cops asking me for ID just to get on my block. I’m 13, what the hell kind of ID do I have?” asked Jovanni Santana Jr.
Critics had decried the desperate dusk-until-dawn lockdown, saying it was reminiscent of South Africa’s apartheid era.
“Why hasn’t the NYPD considered increased foot patrols instead of transforming a two-block area into a Constitution-free zone?” said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman.
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday defended the checkpoints, which were put in place after a rash of gang-related shootings.
“What would they say if we didn’t do that and one of them were killed in a random shooting?” Bloomberg asked.